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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




rj EBEL M 



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NINE MONTHS 



IN 



J^EBEL Prisons, 



BY 



GEORGK WKISET?. 

Company A, lOth Regiment, Neiv Jersev Volunteers. 




PHILADELPHIA : 

JOHN N. REEVE & CO. 
1890. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by John N. Reeve & (! 
office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



/J 



PREFACE. 

Dear Reader: — In writing this book I do not wish to cast 
reflections on the people of the South, no, not even so much as to 
mention their names. I write this only to give you a true and 
full description of what I saw and experienced in the Rebel 
Prison Pens of the South, in the last year and the dark hours of 
the rebellion, for many have said ''how is it that the Rebs starved 
our men to death and still there seems to be so many of our ex- 
prisoners still alive?" To answer this question in a proper form 
it must be done in writing, for this generation will soon pass away, 
and without a written history this thing will never be understood, 
and this is why I write. These prison pens of which I write, one 
was located at Andersonville, Georgia, and one at Florence, 
South Carolina. 



v^ 



CHAPTER I. 



My Enlistment, Capture and Journey to Andf.rsonville. 
Andersonville Stockade or Prison Pen. How It 
WAS Made. Where the Guards were Sta- 
tioned. The Dead Line. 



I enlisted in the Union or the United States Army on the 
tenth day of September, 1861, for three years, or during the war. 
I was captured at or near Spottsylvania, Va., on or about the four- 
teenth day of May, 1864. The Rebs had fell back from Spottsyl- 
vania and two or three regiments where sent out on the morning 
of the 14th to find where they had made their line of battle. 1 
was among those sent out and we had not gone more than two 
miles before we found them in a strong position. We opened the 
fight and before our main lines of battle could get to us, we 
where charged on by the Rebs and about twelve hundred of us 
were killed, wounded or captured. Here it was we had both of 
our color bearers shot down and one of our colors or flags captured; 
but for the battles and fighting of that month and year, see history 
of the war or of the civil war in the United States. As soon as 
we were captured the Rebs said: ''your side have lost forty thou- 
sand in the last ten days' fight." We said: "thats all right; our 
army has been reinforced forty thousand from the North since the 
fight commenced, so you see we are just about as strong now as 
we were the fourth of May." The Rebs said they "did not care; 
they had whipped aU our Generals of the Army of the Potomac, 
and this time they would whip Grant worse than all the rest. 



10 NINE MONTHS IN REBP:L PRISONS. 

The Rebs took us two or three miles south of their army where 
we met about one thousand prisoners. We now numbered about 
two thousand men and several officers. 

The officers were here taken away and the private soldiers 
were marched thirty or forty miles to a place called Danville, Va. 
At Danville the Rebs took our gum blankets, knives and 
money; some of the men hid their knives and money so that the 
Rebs could not find them. I had a large buckhorn penknife which 
they did not get and twenty cents in money which they did not 
take; they would not take less than a dollar. We received from 
the Rebsnine hardtacks or bread and one pound of bacon or meat. 
This they said would last us three days. We were now put 
in box cars and started South. The Rebs said "we will now show 
you Yanks how large our country is." It was now the seventeenth 
(lay of May, 1864. 

The Rebs now took us South. We traveled in daylight and 
stopped off at nights. We traveled on down through Virginia, 
North Carolina and Couth Carolina on to about the center o 
Ceorgia^ where we stopped at a place called Andersonville, a small 
s'-ation on the Georgia Central R. R. about sixty miles South-east 
from Macon, Gi. 

The Rebs now took us off the cars and marched us about 
one mile, and then we stood before and in sight of Anderson- 
ville Stockade or Prison Pen. This was the twenty fifth day of 
May, 1864. The Rebs now divided or counted us c ff into de- 
tachments of thousands, hundreds and twenty-fives. The twenty- 
five were called a mess Some of the men wanted to know what 
they were going to do with us. The Captain in charge said, 
'*we are going to put you in that Stockade and tliere we are go- 
ing to keep you until your Government takes you out." 



Nine months in heBel prisons. 11 

It was now about six o'clock in the evening ; the gate of the 
Stockade was opened and we were marched into the Prison, tired, 
hungry and disappointed. 

There were about ten thousand prisoners in this Prison at 
this time 

Andersonville Stockade or Prison Pen was a pen of about 
sixteen acres of land, without shelter of any kind except two pine 
trees that stood in the Northern part of ihe Prison. Those two 
trees were cut down on or about the first of July. Wood was so 
scarce in the prison we had to take the trees to do our cooking. 

What little shelter we had was what the prisoners made them- 
selves with their blankets, clothing or what ever they hapened to 
have when they entered the prison. The Rebs gave us nothing 
for shelter. 

This Prison Pen was inclosed by a Stockade of pine logs six- 
teen feet long set close together, four feet in the ground, or 
twelve feet above the ground, or twelve feet high, with two gates, 
both gates being on one side of the prison, one gate at the upper 
and one at the lower end, with a drive way so that a horse and 
wagon could come in and drive about halfway across the prison 
and turn. 

The Reb gu?rd had little sheds about twenty yards apart all 
the way around tlie Stockade; these sheds where made a Kttle 
higher than the Stockade so that tlic guards could stand in them 
and vvutch the Prisoners. 

Thesj slieds where on the outside above the stockade. On 
the inside all the way around was the dead line, and it was certain 
death for any one who dared to cross the dead line; this dead line 
on the inside of the Stockade or Prison Ten, was thirty feet from 
each side and end, and was mirk'^d by a small railir.g nailed on 



12 NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 

top of Stakes driven in the ground and about two feet high. This 
railing did not last long for the men being always short of wood, 
it was carried away piece at a time until it was all gone, and there 
was nothing left to mark this dead line. 

This was very bad for the new Prisoners coming in, for those 
in the prison never told them about the dead line, and very often 
when fresh prisoners would come in they would rush over the 
'.lead line for a place to rest and some one would be sure to be 
killed or wounded before they could find out their mistake. 




NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 13 



CHAPTER II. 



Where we got our Water. How we dug wells. The price 

OF Water. Overrun with vermin. How we fared 

FOR shelter. Fighting Lice. Making a 

MUD shanty. Who was responsible 

FOR the way we were 

treated. 



Through the center of this Prison was a ditch of water about 
one foot deep and three feet wide. About one third of this ditch at 
one end was used for a sink. This sink was marked by a railing, 
l)ui by the first of July the railing had all been used for wood to 
cook with. One-third of this ditch about midway was used to 
wash in and there could be seen hundreds of men there day and 
night waiting for their turn to wash themselves; I never washed 
in the ditch. One end of the ditch was used for drink water. 

The Rebs had a cook house on the outside near the ditch, 
and much of the dirt from their cook house would get in the 
water, which ir.rdeitvery bad to drink. I never drank water 
from the ditch. At the end of the ditch inside of the dead line 
was a small running spring of water. The water would run out 
of this spring into the ditch and many of the men would reach 
through or under the dead line so as to get pure water, and there 
could be seen hundreds of men waiting for their turn to get water 
there, for only one or two at a time could get water in this way. 

There was so much danger that I never went there for water; 
too near tlie dead line for me. 



14 KlXK Months In" HEiiEL pRlsOJcg. 

There were about sixteen wells of water in this prison. 
These wells were from three to thirty feet deep but they were 
owned by private parties. Some of these welb would have as 
many as a hundred owners. We had nothing to dig these wells 
with; we had to dig them with our knives, tin cups and tin 
plates. It would take iis three or four weeks to dig a well and 
some of the men would dig fjr weeks and find no water. I have 
seen men lowered down in these wells, twenty-live of thirty feet 
deep, with a leather string made from or out of a shoe. Any 
one who was not an owner was not alowed to use this well- 
water, without they bought it at the rate of one cent a quart. 

We had no pennies in this prison, and so when we wanted to 
buy water we would give one teaspoon ful of corn meal, or one 
teaspoonful of mush or a cliew of tobacco about the size of half a 
grain of corn. I was one of the owners of a well. The well 
that I had a share in was fifteen feet deep and it had eighteen 
owners and the water was good, we used this water to drink, to 
cook with, and to wash ourselves with. 

The owners of the wells had to watch over them day and 
night. On both sides of this ditch the ground was low and 
muddy; the mud in some places was knee deep. The men could 
not stay on this low land All who tried to live there would soon 
get sick and die. This low muddy ground contained about three 
acres. From this low land up to the stockade the ground was 
higher and it was between the dead line and the low land where 
the Prisoners lived. I have seen men in this low muddy ground 
up to their knees in mud hunting for wood; every stump and every 
peice of wood was gathered and used for fuel to cook with. 

This low muddy ground was used by the sick men who could 
not reach or get to the sink or ditch In fact, many of the men 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS, 15 

were so sick that they could not walk down to the low land, and 
they had to dig little holes in the ground; and after using them 
they would cover them over, and these holes, thousand of them, 
would get full and by the effect of the hot sun and rain they 
would boil over and run down the hill. This was the cause of 
creating millions of maggots, and when we would lay down to 
sleep hundreds of these maggots would crawl over us. Some of 
them would crawl in our ears and in our mouths. 

The Rebs gave us nothing for shelter so we had to depend on 
our own resources, or whatever we would happen to have when we 
entered the prison, and there were thousands of little shanties or 
tents of all description from a shelter tent to a hole in the ground. 
Many of the men had no shelter. They of course would soon be 
taken sick and die. There was a place in this prison we called 
the Island It was a small neck of land that was very nearly sur- 
rounded by the low muddy ground, This island was near the 
center of the prison. It was on this island that I and a number 
of my friends located. There was about six hundred prisoners 
on this island, and about three hundred of them were from New 
Jersey. The men had no change of clothing and no soap to wash 
with, and living in so much dirt it was no wonder that all of the 
men in prison became lousy. We had to take our clothes off 
every day and hunt and kill the lice and nits. These were what 
we called body lice; we did not make much account of head lice. 
We had to kill the lice or they would kill us. Oh, pity the sick 
who could not or had not strengh enough to hunt their lice. 
The ground or sand seemed to be full of these lice and at any 
time we could see them crawling on us from off the ground. 

I would like here to make a statement in regard to myself: 
From the fourth of July until the first day of September, every 



16 NINK MONTHS IN KEBEL PRISONS. 

day in those two months, I killed three hundred lice and nits. 
When I got up to this number I would stop killing until the next 

day. 

All the clothes I had was a hat, a coat, one pair of pants, one 
shirt, one pair of stockings, one pair of shoes. The first night 
that I landed in the prison I slept out in the open air. The next 
morning one of the prisoners had a board which he offered to sell 
for two dollars; it was an inch board twelve feet long and about 
ten inches wide, and Phil. Hilyard, of Williamstown, N. J.; 
Jacob Kay, of Longacoming, N. J.; George Macintosh of 
Mauch Chunk, Pa. and I, made up the two dollars and bought 
the board. I put in twenty cents, all the money I had. With 
this board we made a frame for our shanty or tent and enclosed 
it with mud and clay which we dug from the low muddy ground. 

This shanty or tent was one foot high at the back, three feet 
high at the front, four feet long and four feet wide. Phil had a 
wool blanket that we used for an awning on the front toward the 
south. It was built for four, but when we got it finished only 
three could crawl in at a time, but it done very well to keep the 
hot sun off. We were raised in the North and this was so far 
South we suffered much by the heat. Every time it rained very 
much the roof of our shanty would get soft and fall in and part of 
the shanty would f.ill down, so we had the pleasure of building it 
up about once or twice a week. This shanty or tent of ours was 
called one of the best in the prison and many of the men would 
come and take a drawing of it when they v anted to build. Oh, 
pity those who had no shelter, for there were thousands of them 
who had nothing to keep them from the hot sun and rain. 
About ten feet from our tent was the low muddy ground, and 
about five feet from the low land was wheri we dug our well of 



NINK MONIUS IN RKBEL PRISONS. 17 

water. Now before you read too for I do not wish yon to blame 
the common people of the South. This thing was done against 
their wishes. The Rebellion of the South was caused by slavery 
— by slave holders and slave owners only, and not by the com- 
mon people— slavery caused it all; and these slave owners, after 
they started the Rebt^bion, were willing to do anything wrong 
to carry their point and extend slavery, and this being in the last 
year of the war they wanted to do something to bring the United 
States Crovernment to terms, and this was one of the things they 
tried and failed. The R^bel Leaders were in much trouble at 
this time and every thing they done seemed to be wrong and bad, 
while on the other side the United States Government seemed to 
<lo every thing that was pure, and noble, and right. And now 
in regard to prison life I propose to give it in detail, and to 
itemize as far as my memory goes so that all who read will know- 
how this starving of prisoners was done. 




18 NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 



CHAPTER III. 



What we had to eat. The Regulators or Police. Cook- 
ing OUR OWN food. Food cut down one-half. Mosby's 
Raiders. Dog soup. Arrest of the raiders. 
Six hung. 



When I was first put in this Prison Pen the men received 
their food ready cooked, of which, each one of us received half 
a pound of corn meal bread, and four ounces of boiled ham or ba- 
con for one day's food. One day in each week we received four 
ounces of fresh beef. In addition to this we received every two 
(I lys half a pint of mush, or half a pint of cooked beans, or six 
tea.poonfuls of molasses ; so you see part of the time we received 
two difftrent kinds, and part of the time three kinds of food. 

Well we went on at tliis rate until June the first, new pris- 
oners coming in every day or two, until we numbered about twen- 
ty thousand, and it took ?o much food that the Rebs could not 
cook it for us, and some times it would be near sun down before 
we would receive any thing to eat. The mush was put in large 
dry good boxes; three or four of these boxes were filled with hot 
mush, put on a two horse open wagor., which the Rebs would drive 
iito the prison. It took several of these boxes of mush to supply 
us, and some times the men would get tired waiting, ar.d when 
t'iie loaded wagon would come in, many of the men would make a 
raid on the wagon, upset the boxes and spill the mush; in this way 
it would get wasted and many of the men had to go without mush 
for that day. 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 19 

The Rebs and the prisoners soon got tired of this, so we had 
two companies of regulators or police appointed-. It was the duty 
or work of the regulators to keep the raiders from the food wagons, 
for which service they received double rations. The Rebs said that 
they could not cook our corn meal bread for us so now they gave> 
us our corn meal raw and wood to cook all our food except the 
mush, beans, rice and molasses. Generally these articles were 
cooked before we got them, but some times we would receive them 
raw. We received our ration of food about in this way : Sunday we 
received corn meal, saltmeat and half a pint of cooked rice; Mon- 
day, corn meal and saltmeat ; Tuesday, corn meal, saltmeat and 
half a pint of mush; Wednesday, corn meal and fresh beef; Thurs- 
day, corn meal, saltmeat and six teaspoonfuls of molasses ; Friday, 
corn meal and saltmeat ; Saturday, corn meal, saltmeat and half 
a pint of cooked beans, and then on Sunday, corn meal, etc. 

This is, or was, about the way they tried to feed us during tlu 
nine months that I was there. We had four separate days we re- 
ceived no food, twice we received no food for three days 
at a time, about thirty days we received no meat, and we received 
no mush, rice, beans or molasses for forty days at a tiaie. These 
days we received nothing but corn meal and meat. When we com- 
mence to get our food raw it was on or about the first of June and 
from that time we had to do the cooking ourselves. Each man 
got his food and done his own cooking. x\t first we received one 
quart of corn meal and four ounces of meat for one day's food. 

This was more corn meal than many of the men could eatp 
for there were many sick who did not eat one pint a day; I could 
eat my quart every day. Each man received a piece of wood 
about one inch square and three feet long every day to cook with. 
This wood was too small to do our cooking with and as soon as 



20 JIINK MONIHS IN RKliKL PRiSOIVt*. 

it I uiiud out we wculd eat our food, very oiten, half cooked. 
We went on in this way for about tliree weeks. The sick did not 
eat their full ration of food. Corn meal was plenty, we could 
buy it in any })art of th.e prison for five cents a quart. I kept 
about four quarts on hand. Many of the men would try to keep 
their meal but it would get wet and sour, and corn meal could be 
seen all through the i)rison where the m.en had thrown it away. 

'J'he Rebs saw this and they thought that they were giving us 
too much to eat, so in the last week in June our food was cut down 
one-half. Of mush, beans, rice and molasses we got about the 
same, but of com meal and meat we received but one pint of corn 
meal and about three ounces of meat a day. The next day after 
food was cut down corn meal went up to fifty cents a quart and 
never sold for less during my imprisonment. I never received 
salt from the Rebs while in Anders jnville prison. I do not 
think that they e\er gave the Prisoners any salt except what was 
in the meat. 

The }jrice of salt was five cents a tablecpoonful or fifty cent.-j 
a jjint. It was now the first of July and new i)risoners were com- 
ing in and we numbered about thirty t!"iou>an.L At tliis time 
we were pested with a gang of our men who were called Mosby's 
Raiders. There seemed to be about one thousand of these men 
banded together, nearly all of them were known, and we could 
point them out wherever we would see them. These men, or raid- 
ers did not disturb many of the old prisoners but they would steal 
off of the new ones when they first came ia, which made a great 

deal of trouble in the prison. 

One day t'.irej Rjbs cam^ in the prison. One appeared to be 

a doctcr who h.ul a little pet dog witli him, I saw one of the raid- 
ers slip up behind tliem and steal the dog. He took it to hisshan- 




T}iM Aui-i T, from .1 cLii^uerreotype takon fhrpe months before lii.s r-apturt 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 21 

ty, killed it and made it into soup. I saw that same raider 
that evening going through the prison selling soup. He would 
sing out, "here is your nice mutton soup, twenty-five cents a pint, 
with a piece of mutton in every pint." The doctor never knew 
what became of his dog. One day these raiders stole a watch. 
Some said they stole it fron^ the Rebs and some said they stole it 
off of one of the new prisoners. I do not know which it was for 
when any thing happened in the prison we could hear all kind of 
rumors ; any way there was quite a riot started on account of it. 

The watch was never found but the raiders got themselves 
into trouble by it. The excitement was so strong that the Rebs 
marched in a company of their men. They then had it ex- 
plained to them how we were tormented by the raiders. The cap- 
tain in charge of the prison now ordered the regulators to arrest 
all the raiders and send them outside to him. The regulators in 
two days, had arrested over three hundred and sent them out. 
They where then tried by a court-martial composed of prisoners 
and rebels, six of them where found guilty of murder. One of 
their shanties was dug out and one of the prisoners found murdered 
and buried therein. Then all but the six where sent back 
into the prison again and they were kept out until the eleventh 

of July. 

The Captain that had charge over the prison came in and 
said, ''we have arrested some of your men and have given them 
a fair trial ; six of them have been found guilty of murder ; we do 
not know what to do with those six men ; they ought to be hung, 
but we dare not hang them for fear your government may retali- 
ate, so we hive made up our minds to send them back into the 
prison and let them go. You men can take them, let them go 
free, hang them or do what you like with them." Every thing had 



22 KINK iMONTHS IN KEBKL PRISONS. 

been still and silent while the captain was speaking, but iiow a cry 
went up from five thousand men, to "hang them;" ''hang them." 
One of tlie prisoners went uj) to the captain in charge of the 
]jrison and said that he would hang them if the captain would give 
him lumber to build a scaffold and rope to do the hanging with? 
for, said he, "these raiders have killed my brother and I want to 
hang them for it." The captain said he would send every thing in 
that w^as needed. A wagon was sent in with the lumber and soon 
the men had a scaffold built with six ropes dangling on it. Then 
about three o'clock in the afternoon the six men were brought in 
hand-cuffed The captain in charge of the prison then removed 
the hand-cuffs and turned the men over to the prisoners. The 
Rebs then all went out except the Quartermaster and the Priest. 
These two stayed inside the prison until after the hanging. There 
was about five thousand prisoners at this time standing crowded 
together near the gate. 

As soon as the six men where relieved of their cuffs one of 
them, the leader of the gang, made a break for liberty. He run 
hrough this crowd of five thousand men, up and down the 
prison, across the low mudy ground, wen tup to his knees in mud, 
fell down, crawled out of the mud, got on the up land and kept 
on running until some one run up to him and caught him. Then 
they were taken to the scaffold, the ropes put around their necks, 
m'^alsacks pulled over their heads, and soon they were dangling in 
the air. One man broke the rope but he was put up again and 
hung. They were left hanging for about one hour when a wagon 
drove in and they were then cut down, loaded on the wagon and 



KtNE MoNTfiS IN REbEL PklSONS. ^-^ 

took out. This stopped the raiding and there was no raiders now 
to be found. Now if a man was caught stealing he was taken to 
the regulators and if found guitly, he was tied to a post, received 
from five to twenty lashes, and then let go. 




24 MINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Drawing Rations. Amount of rations in bulk and what 

EACH RECEIVED. MaKING COFFEE. ThE PEN ENLARGED. 
Men GETTING WILD. PLACING CANNON ON THE 

STOCKADE. Clothing giving out. 



Now in regards to drawing or di voiding our rations or food. 
In every detachment or thousand men there was one Reb and one 
Union man appointed over them. It was the work of the Reb 
to count his thousand every morning. This was done by count- 
ing the first, second, third, and so on hundred at a time. Then 
the Reb would report to the Rebel Quartermaster, draw the rations 
or food, and turn it over to the Union man that had charge of the 
thousand. This Union man would then divide the food into ten 
parts for which service he would received a double ration of food 
Each hundred had one Union man appointed over them and it was 
the work of this man to draw the rations for his men from the 
man that had charge of the thousand. Then this man would 
divide the food into four parts for which he would receive 
for his work a double ration or two shares of the food; and one 
Union man had charge over the mess, or twenty-five men. It was 
the work of this man to draw the portion of food for the twenty 
five men and divide it and for this work he received noth- 
ing. It was the rule for the man that divided the twenty- 
five rations to always take the last ration; this rule caused him to 
divide it very true and exact ; every man seemed to get his full 
share. When we received fresh beef with a bone in it the bone 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 25 

would count for one ration of meat as any of the men would take 
it in preference to the meat. One man told me that he 
liad boiled his beef bone forty times, always getting a little sab-' 
stance out of it to season his corn meal or meal cake. At one time 
the man that was in charge of my mess of twenty-five got sick 
and died. I was appointed to divide the rations, and the first day 
I was short of one ration of meat. Of course I had to go 
without meat for that day. I divided the rations for two or thres 
weeks; I soon found that I was losing in strength so I threw up the 
job and some one else took it. 

It was surprising to see the large amount of food it took 
every day to feed the prisoners, and when it was divided we 
would only have about half enough to eat. I have seen ten bar- 
rels of molasses carted into the prison for one day's ration and 
when it was divided to thirty-five thousand men it was only six 
teaspoonfuls to each man. It took more than five hundred bushels 
of corn meal every day to feed those men, each man receiving only 
one pint of corn meal. It took five or six thousand pounds of 
meat every day and all we received was about three ounces of 
meat a day for each man. It took twelve or fifteen cords of 
wood every day and when it was divided out to each man it would 
not make enough fire for cooking. We had many different ways 
of preparing our food to eat. One way we eat the mush was to 
put cold water on it, then shut our eyes and imagine that we were 
eating mush and milk. I ate my mush often in this way and 
then told the men that it was hard to tell water from milk. We 
had many ways in using molasses; some would drink it as soon a^ 
they got it, others would trade it off for four or five teaspoonfuls o 
meal or a little piece of meat. Hundreds of the men had nothing to 
put the molasses in and they would get it in the top of their caps, 



26 NINE MONTHS IN REBKL PRISONS. 

or in an old rag, or in their hands. These poor fellows would 
have to eat theirs very quickly or loose or waste it. Some of the 
men would trade all of their corn meal and meat for molasses; out 
of the molasses they would make candy, sell it and then take the 
money and buy something else to eat. 

I always divided my ration or food into two meals; I eat one in 
the afternoon or evening and the other in the morning. I had a 
quart tin cup and a tin plate, that I cooked in; everyday I made 
what I called Coffee. I took four or five teaspoon fuls of corn 
meal, put it in the tin plate, put the plate over the fire and burnt 
the meal black; then I put the burnt meal in the tin cup with one 
pint of water and brought it to a boil. This made very good coffee 
and when I drank the coffee I always ate the grounds so that 
nothing would be lost. I would make the corn meal out in a little 
water into two cakes and bake them in my tin plate over the fire; 
some times I would cut my meat up in small pieces, mix it with the 
corn meal and bake it altogether; this making the cake very 
good and rich. The Rebs never gave me any salt while in this 
prison. When I received fresh beef I always made a cup of soup 
and put corn meal dumplings in it. I was in these prison pens nine 
months and was sick only one day, so I had a fair chance to see 
much that was going on in the prison. 

And now it was July fifteenth, and new prisoners were still 
coming in, and the cry was, still they come. The Prison Pen 
liad become ^o full of men, that the Rebs had it enlarged, and 
now we had about twenty-four or five acres of land in our prison. 

Our food began to get short; the overplus was all used up 
and now what food we received would do very well for the sick to 
die on, but it was far to small for heathy men to live on. 

Save us! oh, save us! what shall we do. New prisoners com- 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. It 

ing in every day until the number run up to fourty thousand, with 
about half enough to eat, and the cry was "what shall we do" or 
"what will we do." There was the men that had been the bra- 
vest of the Country, who had stood before the enemy in (he heat 
of battle and fought until they were wounded or captured, but 
now they are so reduced and starved that their hearts sink, their 
.strength is gone, and they are passing away for ever. There was 
nothing in this prison pen but famine and danger. 

The men where wild with torment; they looked one another 
in the eyes and wept. Some swore and some cried, some went 
mad, many were sick, and many died. It had not rained for 
several days and the prison was filthy from one end to the other, 
death was staring every man in the face. The Rebs too got uneasy. 
They planted a battery of artilery on the outside at each corner of 
the prison and threatened to blow us all into eternity sooner than 
let us escape. They unlimbered their guns and commenced firing 
over the prison. About this time a thunder storm arose and the 
lighting struck in many places all about the prison, the rain de- 
cended in mighty power flooding all of the low land of the prison 
the water made the ground so soft that both ends of the Stockade 
where it crossed the low land fell down and the water rushed 
through earring all the filth and dirt with it. 

And now it Avas in August and the men's clothing began to 
give out; some had only a pair of pants, some only a shirt, some 
drawers, some only had a cap, some a pair of shoes^ many were 
barefooted, and many nearly naked. We had a mass meeting 
and elected three of our men to go Washington, D. C. and see 
if they could make some terms for us to get away. 

The Rebs said they would send the three men through the 
lines The three men went off and that was the last we ever seen 



28 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PKIHOVg. 



of them. The Rebs said that they would never exchange a black 
man for a white one, and that was the only terms our Government 
would exchange on, so there would be no exchange until the war 
was over. 




SriNE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 



CHAPTER V, 



Dying by hundreds. The sick call. Trade and Traffic, 
U. S. money in circulation. Buying off the far- 
mers. Plenty of Confederate money and 

WHAT IT WAS worth. OuR STORES AND 
their PRICES. 



In July and August we had about six thousand sick men in 
the prison, about three thousand of whom where almost helpless 
and dying. The dead averaged about one hundred a day and one 
day we had two hundred and four deaths. Every day the dead 
were carried out to the dead house by four of his friends. We had 
a sick call every day at ten o'clock This call was at the gate 
where the doctor would come in and look at the sick. I will ex- 
plain this sick call: At ten o'clock a drummer boy would come 
in near the gate and beat the drum, about three thousand of the 
i)ick would then start for the gate and about three hundred would 
hold out to reach there, the rest of the men would all give out be- 
fore they got near the gate and they would hear, **the sick call 
is over" and they had to get back to their shanties the best they 
could. There were about two thousand men that could not walk 
far at a time these men would crawl out and get from five to twen- 
ty-five yards and they would hear ''the sick call is over" and then 
they would crawl back to their tents and holes again. There was 
about one thousand sick who could not help themselves. 

A great many of these men had their friends to help them; 
these too would start to answer the sick call. Each one would have 



80 KINE' MOXTHS IN REBEL PRISONis, 

three or four friends who would pick them up aixi start for the 
gate; some of these were carried in blankets, some on sticks of 
wood and some on the shoulders of their friends, each party trying 
to rush their man in ahead of tlie other. Some of these would 
run into each other, throw down their men and fight for the right 
of way. Very often when the fight was over one or the other of 
the sick men would be dead. This surely was a sad sight. About 
three hundred would reach the gate, and carried up in this wayy 
it took a long time to reach there for our motion wag very slowy 
we had been so reduced that we could not move fast. 

Of course, the new prisoners coming in could make very fast 
time but they too would soon have to come down to slow time.- 
The sick are at the gate near the dead line — that is all that were 
able to get there — about six or seVen hundred and these hope to 
get medicine; two doctors come in and look at them, pick out 
three or four and send them out to the hospital, the doctors then 
gives a little red root or a few pills to about fifty of the sick men,- 
and then the doctor says that^s all we can do and tell the men td 
come again to-morrow; then the men are taken back to their 
holes and shanties again disappointed and dying. 

Sometimes the sick would be v/aiting for the doctor and 
word would come that he would not be in to-day, and some of the 
men would give up all hope and die. 

There was a great deal of trade and traffic carried on in this 
prison and there seemed to be about forty thousand dollars in 
greenbacks, or United States money, in circulation. Some of the 
prisoners would have as low as five cents and some as high as one 
hundred dollars. This money was all the time in circulation, and 
some of it would get so black and dirty that we could scarcely tell 
the value of it. All of the currency or small notes less than it 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 81 

dollar were kept in the prison; these we used for retail trade. 
There was many thousand men in this prison who never had a 
cent of money of any kind while they were in there, I was with 
the number without money while in this prison. Oh pity the 
poor, and the sick who had no money. The Rcbs allowed the 
farmers to sell to the prisoners but they were not allowed to enter 
the prison, neither were they allowed to sell for greenbacks. 
The prisoners that bought off these farmers had to be escorted out 
of the prison under guard to buy their produce, so every day there 
would be a few prisoners taken out to buy goods, and some of the 
prisoners would stand at the gate for weeks at a time waiting for 
their turn. Many of them never got out for it was just who 
happened to be the lucky one, so those that got out would buy for 
those that did not. The Reb farmer was not allowed to sell for 
greenback so the prisoners had to buy Rebel money. Some how 
or other there was always plenty of this Reb or Confed money in 
the prison and for sale by the prisoners. How this money 
got into the prison or how the prisoners got possession of it I do 
r.ot know. We could ahvays buy this Confed money for there 
seemed to be plenty of it in prison and when we wanted to buy we 
vv'onid just call out, ''whose got Confed to sell," and in five minutes 
we would see some of the prisoners coming to us with their hands 
fiid of it. The greatest mystery of all was the way this Reb 
money was sold. We always got five dollars of Confed money 
for one dollar in greenbacks, and some times we could get six 
for one, seven for one, and I have seen the time when we could 
get ten for one, and very likely the next day it would be five for 
one. 

We always judged how things where going on in the outside 
world by the rise and fall of this money. We always got twenty 



B2 KlXK MONTHS IN" HECKL JTCISONS, 

dollars in Confed for one in gold. The buying and selling 
on the inside of the prison was all done with United States money. 
The money would have soon all disappeared if it had not been for 
new prisoners coming in. Some of these men would have five, ten 
or twenty dollars each and in one week's time their money would 
be gone. Many of them would start little stores or shebangs 
and make out to live for weeks and months. If a man had a dol- 
lar he was called rich, luit if he had no money he v/as called poor 
I was between the two for I was part owner of a good well of water 
which threw me in with both classes. There were many stores 
in this prison and they were rated from one dollar up to twenty^ 
The largest store was rated at one thousand dollars and was ov.^ned 
by Boston Corbet. It was called the Novelty store and this was 
the only store that kept tea, sugar, coffee and such things. I 
remember going to Corbet's store one day for five cents worth of 
tea for a sick friend of mine, but he would not sell it to me. I 
told him it was all the money I had and my friend was dying. He 
said tea is twenty-five cents a teaspoonful and he would not sell 
any less. I never went there to buy any thing after that. Every 
thing was very high in this prison as will be seen from the fol- 
lowing prices which we paid: 

Wood, fifty dollars a cord. 

Butter, five dollars a pound. 

Eggs, five dollars a dozen. 

Pork, three dollars a pound. 

Cheese, two dollars a pound. 

Sugar, one dollar a pound. 

Rice, one dollar a quart. 

Salt, fifty cents a pint, five cent a teaspoonfuL 

Tea and Coffee, twenty-five cents a teaspoonfuL 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 

Corn Meal, fifty cents a quart. 

Sweet Potatoes raw, five dollars a bushel. 

Sweet Potatoes cooked, five and ten cents each. 

Bean Soup with twenty beans, five cent a plate. 

Chicken Soup, twenty-five cent a pint. 
-• Tobacco, five cents a chew. 

Sour Beer, five cents a pint. 

Veal and Mutton Soup, twenty-five cents a pint. 

Little long Red Peppers, five cents a piece. 

Molasses Candy size of common lead pencil, five cents a stick. 

If a man had a barrel he started a beer saloon and his fortune 
was made; all he done was to throw in corn meal and water and 
dip out sour beer for five cents a pint. There was three of these 
saloons in the prison. Tin cups and kettles where one dollar for 
a quart one, four dollars for a four quart kettle. These tin cups 
and kettes where made out of old tin that the prisoners gathered up 
on their way to prison and there was always ready sale for all the 
old tin that came in; this tin was found along the railroads where 
wrecks had happened. There was also a shop for repairing watches 
and jewelry in the prison and the men that worked in it made out 
well. Every man was considered lucky who made enough to buy 
his salt and a few extra mouthfuls of food to eat. There were four 
or five barber shops; shaving ten cents, hair cutting ten cents. 



g4 KINE iviOKTilS IN IIKLKL I^RISOKS. 



CHAPTER VL 



Wounding necfo prisoners after they were captured. Mv 
drea^i cf home. prli^oners trvino to escape fy tun- 

NEFS. ShEFTER FOR THE SICK. RuMOR OF 

ExcFiANc^E. Removed to Fforence, 
S. C. Stariing a store. 



There was four or five hundred c-olored prisoners in tliis pris- 
on and nearly all of ihem wliere lame or wounded. Their's was 
a sad f^ite indeed, some of them said that they h.ad been wounded 
after they were captured. All the prisoners seemed to be affected 
with the scurvy; many where broke out in black spots and some 
were so bad that their teeth fell out, many were so bad that they 
would swell up to twice their size and the black spots would break 
and burst out, and large gangrene sores would eat the flesh from 
their bones, and I have often seen the bare bones through the sores 
for many days before the men were dead. Many of the men 
were troubled with the diarrhoea many died from this cause. 
The corn meal did not agree with them and they had no way to 
cure themselves. The men were troubled much with fever; some 
would be taken and die scon, this we called the yellow fever 
and seme would be taken and linger long, this kind we called 
the slow fever. They where so reduced that their hip bones had 
nothing on them but the thin skin and sometimes they would get 
so sore that we could see the bone. This made the men sleep in- 
all ways. IMost of the time in this prison I slept in a sitting 
position with my knees drawn up and my head and arms resting. 



^-iisTE MoXTtts tx REBi:i. ruisoxs, 35 

on my knees. I remember one day standing at the dead line 

near the gate, it was about the time of the sic!; call aul I was 

standing there counting the d^ad that had been brought up ta the 

gate that morning, seventy-eight in number, but they had not yet 

been carried out to the d^ad hoa^e, and the prison seemed to have 

on all of its agony when I looked up and saw six women looking 

over the top of the stockade, and I heard one of them remark, "I 

have often wondered why the Confederacy did not succeed but 

now I know; no nation can prosper who does a thing like this," 

and the women turned from the sight. While in this prison I hid 

many dreams and I often dreampt of going home and seating at 

the table filled with plenty of good things to eat. I dreampt this 

so often that one night when I was in a dream sitting at the 

table with my brother and sisters and every thing seemed to be 

full and plenty, when I said ''there is no use of my eating because 

this is nothing but a dream. I have dreamed this of::en, I 

believe this too is not real." *'0h no," said my sister, "this is 

no dream. See," said she, *'take this hot cup of coffee and eat 

and drink for if this was a dream I could not hand you this." 

"Well," I said, "I will try it this time for surely this is no dream;" 

so we had a good time eating and drinking but when I awoke I 

was very much disappointed for I was a thousand miles from 

home. iNIany of the men tried to make their escape by tunnels, 

these tunnels where dug under ground, three or four feet deep 

and three or four hundred yards long. Not many of the prisoners 

ever made their escape in this way, the tunnel or hole only being 

large enough to permit one man to crawl out at a time, the Rebs 

\vould discover them before we could complete them. 

And now it is the last week of August, we have had our hard 
•est thunder storms in this month; it flooded the prison and wash- 



36 NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PKLSONS. 

ed off all the filth and dirt; the ground was cold and damp and the 
men dying off by hundreds, the days were hot but the nights were 
chilly and all seemed to think that we are to be kept in this prison 
all Winter and the men beg the Rebs to give them shelter for the 
sick. The Pvcbs sent us in two or three wagon loads of boards 
and we put up two sheds open in the front and closed at the 
back and ends, these sheds were only for the sick that was help- 
less which were thousands. Many of the sick men had nothing 
of any kind to cook with not even so much as a tin cup or a tin 
plate; many of the sick and well, both, were without any thing to 
cook with for the Rebs gave us nothing to cook in and if the men 
could not borrow a tin cup or plate from their friends they had to 
eat their food raw. It was now the first of September, the sheds 
where completed and the sick was being carried to them. All that 
could walk was called well and all that could not walk was called 
sick, the four in my tent was able to walk up to this time. Kay 
was sick from eating raw meal, Hilyard was failing fast, Macintosh 
and I were in good health. In the mud hole or tent behind my 
tent where three men lived, all where dead. The tent on the 
right side of my tent where two men lived, one was dead and the 
other was in good health. The tent on the left side of my tent 
where three men lived two where dead and one in good health. 
This is the way things were about the first day of September, 
v/hcn we had a strong rumor that the prisoners where going to 
be exchanged. About this time Phil Hilyard said to us, "do you 
men ever expect to get out of this prison alive." I told him that I 
hoped to get out all right. He said that he was sure that he would 
diebefore he got home; he failed fast after this and at midnight on 
the third of September he died. Kay got so weak that he gave up 
all hope and said that he believed that he too would soon die. On 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 37 

the seventh of September the Rebs said we would be exchanged 
and they began to take the prisoners out of the prison. On the 
eighth of September we carried Kay up and put him in the sheds; 
he was alive when I left the prison. On the ninth of September 
my old friend Macintosh got uneasy and slipped out with another 
detachment and left me alone. On the tenth of September my 
detachment or thousand was ordered out. We were taken to the 
railroad and put in box cars and started North. Now I was 
very sad indeed; my three comrades gone, my clothes ragged and 
torn, I did not know what to do. I soon found that the two men 
that had lived along side of me was in the same car with me, one 
of these men was Frank Beegle of the fifteenth regiment, New Jer- 
sey Vol. , and the other was Orlando Gallagher of my regiment. Both 
of the men had a wool blanket but I had none; we had only one 
blanket at our tent and when Phil got sick we sold it to get him 
something to eat, so these two men said that I should go with 
them and that they would let me sleep in the middle. This was 
very good news indeed to me, but still I was sad to think that we 
had left so many behind. It is said that fourteen thousand died 
in Andersonville Prison Pen, but if each man had been truly 
•counted the dead would number many more than fourteen, fifteen 
or even sixteen thousand. Orlando Gallagher's partner that he 
had at Andersonville died and left him a silver watch valued at 
fifty dollars and twenty-five dollars in money. I had a gold ring 
worth about two dollars which I had not parted with. On the 
fifteenth of September we landed at a place called Florence, South 
Carolina. Here we were taken from the cars and put in a large 
field and a strong guard put over us. About eight or ten thousand 
prisoners had now arrived here and it was two days since we had 
«eaten our last food. I now traded off my ring for a peck of sweet 



38 NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRI.-OXS. 

potatoes, Orlando bought some meat and corn meal, Frank hunted 
up some pieces of wood and we soon had a good feed. The Rebs 
said that tliey did not know that we were coming and that noth- 
ing had been prepared to feed us, so that night and the next day 
made three days since we had food. The men began to starve 
and die and we commenced to carry the dead up and lay them on 
the grour.d near the guards, some of the guards would say "what's 
the n:atier with that man." We would say that man has starved 
to death and every one of us will starve to death if we are kept 
without food another day. The Rebs thought that there was 
some truth in this and they started out through the country and 
gathered up three or four wagon loads of corn cake and sweet 
potatoes; this was divided with the men and the next day the 
Rebs began to give us our corn meal and meat regular. It was at 
this place that I saw three men lay on the ground and cry "oh 
fjr a spoonful of meal to save my life!" and the next morning I 
went to see if they where still there and there the three men lay 
cold and stiff in death. We received about the same amount 
of food that we did at Andersonville. We now formed a plot to 
break through the guards and escape, so the prisoners rushed out 
and the Rebs thought that we would all escape but by the time we 
had run five or six hundred yards the men gave out and as we had 
to stop to rest the Rebs soon surrounded us and drove us back. 
There seemed to be plenty to eat at this place if one only had the 
money to buy with' and some of the men began the same old 

business of keeping store. 

It was now the twenty-second of September, my peck of pota- 
toes was gone and very near all of Orlando's twenty-five dollars, 
so Orlando said we will sell the watch and with all we get over fifty 
dollars we will start a store; so Frank and I took the watch and 



NiNfi MONTHS llf REBEL PRISONS. 39 

traded it off to an old former who offered us three hundred dollars 
in Confed money or a load of sweet potatoes. We told him if he 
would bring us sixteen bushels of sweet potatoes we would give 
him the watch, so the next day, according to promise, he brought 
the potatoes and we gave him the watch. As soon as we received 
the potatoes we sold ten bushels to the prisoners for five dollars a 
bushel; this made fifty dollars and we gave it to Orlando, the 
amount he wanted for the watch. We now had six bushel of potatoes 
left to start business with. Everything Vv'e sold to the prisoners 
in the prison we sold for greenbacks or the United States 
money; we never dealt in Reb money unless we wanted to buy 
something from the Rebs, and then of course, we got five dollars 
of Confed money for one dollar in greenbacks. Now I was rated 
with the rich, and I did not have much time to look after the sick 
and distressed. We took three bushels of the potatoes and made 
them out into twenty little heaps for which we got one dollar a 
heap; we now had twenty dollars and three bushels of potatoes. 
We bought one four quart kettle for which we paid four dollars; 
this kettle we used to cook our potatoes in and we sold the potatoes 
ready cooked for five cents each for small size and ten cents each 
for large size, and the next thing we bought was an eight quart ket- 
tle. This kettle we used for boiling our clothes in, and we did 
not have any more lice to pick, for by boiling our clothes once or 
twice a week we could keep clear of them. Now we went on buy- 
ing and selling. One day I bought twenty dozen of little long red 
peppers for fifty cents a dozen in Reb money and sold them for 
five cents each; I bought twenty pints of salt and paid fifty cents 
a pint in Reb money and sold it for fifty cents a pint in green- 
backs so you see we bought cheap and sold dear and sold very 
slow, for it was very hard work to get any thing to sell. One day 



40 NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 

we bought a goose for five dollars in Confed; we made it into soup 
and sold it for twenty-five cents a pint. Of course we would be 
a long time selling these things and by the time we could sell them 
and eat a little of them ourselves not much profit was left; if we 
cleared our salt we were satisfied it was better than nothing. 




KINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 41 



CHAPTER VIL 



The sick exchanged. The Regulators fix the price ob' 

selling and make things worse than they were 

before. The condition of my clothing. 

Voting for President. 



It was now the first of October and the Rebs had made an- 
other pen for us and we were now put into another stockade some- 
thing like the one at Andersonviile, only it was in better con- 
dition — it was clean. We had plenty of wood when we first went 
in and it had a nice stream of water running through it, the stream 
being about six feet wide. We had no wells in this prison, the 
water was plenty and good. One part of this prison the Rebs 
staked off for a hospital and they had made a few little huts out of 
the pine brush and the sick were carried and put into these little 
brush huts. Those that could walk had to shift the best they could 
for no shelter was given us in this prison. There seemed to be 
about twenty thousand men in this prison and it contained about 
sixteen acres of land, mud and water. 

It was now about the twenty-first of October and who did I 
see coming in ])ut my old friend George Macintosh. He wanted 
me to take him in and I was willing but Frank and Orlando 
were not, s) the poor old fellow had to find another partner. 
Orlando and Macintosh were from the same place. 

We got word that the sick were to be exchanged which we 
soon found out was realy true and George Macintosh and Orlando 
Gallagher were taken out with the sick on account of being old 



42 NINE MONTHS IN REBEL I'RISONS. 

men. I was glad to see them go. It was now in November and 
the regulators or police said tlic ])rice of selling at the stores in the 
prison was entirely to high so tliey went through the prison ar.d 
told the store keej)ers how much they should charge, and they 
regulated the price so low that it turned out to be one of the 
worst things that ever happened in the prison, for many of these 
stores only made one or two extra messes or meals a week and 
now the price being cut down there was nothing in it. 

Our store was one that would not pay. We had six pints of 
salt and eight dozen peppers, this we divided and stoped keeping 
store and in two Aveeks time there was nothing to buy or sell, and 
we were now left to the mercy of the Rebs, and they could starve 
us all to death in four or five days if they where so inclined; we 
all seemed to be dissatisfied and we where all of us like a set of 
hungry hogs. Now there was no laughing, no singing and noc 
much talking; we all lost hope and we thought our time had come; 
we were now all alike; all must die the same death. The well and 
sick seemed to die together; a man would be well to-day and dead 
to-morrow. Surely no one could hope to ever escape alive. The 
Rebs and the regulators now saw they had made a great mistake, 
and they told the men to go on with their stores and sell for any 
price they pleased. Some (ew of the stores were opened but busi- 
ness never come up to where it was before. Frank and I had 
spent all of our money and we had nothing but peppers, salt and 
one blanket, so we did not undertake to start another store. 
It was now in December and the nights were very chilly and cold 
and the only way that Frank and I could keep warm was by drink- 
ing hot pepper tea. In this way we could make out to keep from 
perishing. I still bad a pair of pants, coat and shirt, but you 
could not have told what they were ; I had cut the sleeves out of 




The author just before he made his escape. 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 43 

my coat to cover my feet. The thread. in all the seams of my 
clothing had given out and I had cut the sleeves out of my shirt, 
to make strings to tie my pants, coat and shirt together. They 
were all torn and ragged and I had hard work to make them hang 
on me and still I was better off than a great many others. Some 
had only a coat, some only a shirt, others a pair of pants; we were 
the worst looking creatures that ever was seen. Tongue cannot tell 
and pen cannot write the terrible scenes ot this prison pen. 

It was now the first of January and we heard that the North, 
or the people of the North, had sent down some clothing to the 
prisoners. I saw the Lieutenant in charge of the prison and 
begged him to give me some clothes; he took me out to where the 
clothes were and told me to pick out one piece, for said he: 
^'Each man will get one peice and then we will not have enough 
to go halfway around." I told him that I would take a blanket, 
for I could wrap it around me and keep warm. 

The wood that we used in this prison to cook with was cut by 
negro slaves near the prison, and it was carried up to the gate, by 
one hundred prisoners, the same ones going out every day to carry 
up wood; they would go out in the morning and come in at night, 
or about five o'clock in the afternoon. These men got the last 
load they c:rried and a double ration of food every day. Frank, 
about this time, got on the wood gang and now every thing was 
lovely again, for all I had to do was to take care of the blankets 
and every night Frank would bring in enought wood to keep us 

warm. 

One day he brought in an axe and we soon had enough poles 
or logs and I went to work and built a tent. Frank brought in 
six meal sacks and out of these we made the roof. In the end of 
the tent we made a fireplace and the chimney extended two feet 



above the top of the tent; in the back part we made a bunk or plac6 
to sleep on, and Frank brought in some dry grass and we then had 
a nice, soft bed to sleep on, I would trade off wood and loan our 
axe and kettles enough to about doi.Mc my rations, so Frank and 
I were all right for the Winttr- 1 or lie loan of a kettle or our 
axe we would get one teaspoonfull of corn meal. Now the 
Rebs offered to take the men out if ihcy would join their army^ 
About one thousand men went out hoping by this way to make 
their escape; the Rebs gave these men a gray uniform kept them 
out aboUt two weeks and then sent them in the prison again tell- 
ing them they were no good. 

We were in this prison on election day, when Abraham 
Lincoln and George B. McClellan run for President of the 
United States, and the Rebs tried to get the men to vote, for they 
wanted to know the feelings of the prisoners, so in the morning 
when they counted us they gave the order for the McClellan 
men to step to the left and the Lincoln men to the right, and 
tliey only found one company, or one hundred, that gave 
McClellan a majority; all the rest gave Lincoln a large majority.. 

They tried again through the day with white and black beans 
but with the sanie result, Some of the Rebs said they thought 
the war would soon be over, but we said not until the slaves are 
free then they said *'the war will never end, for we will not give 
our slaves to the Yankees*' they did not seem to understand the 
question. We now gave up all hope of getting out of this prison 
until the war was over. 

We told the Rebs that we had come to free the black man, 
save the country, union and flag. They did not seem to under- 
stand what we said for they said-. "You Yanks keep away from as 
and vve will not hurt you/* 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 45 

We had what we called a hospital in this prison but we did 
not have any doctor or medicine, and when the men would get 
sick so they could not help themselves they were carried to the 
hospital to die. This Hospital was so filthy and dirty that we all 
thought it was dangerous to go near it; the other part of the pris- 
on we considered in fair condition. But some of the men who 
had not been sick would go to sleep and never awake, this put us 
in great fear and we could hear some of the men saying to one 
another, ^*if I get asleep do not let me sleep too long or I might 
wake up in another world. " 

I was better off in this prison than I was at Andersonville for 
there I was classed with the poor, but here I was called a retired 
merchant ; but if my friend Frank had not secured work carying 
up wood we surely would have died. 




46 NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Many dying and the Rebs furnishing music to cheer the men. 

Removal. Trying to escape from the cars. The 

PGOPLE OF Wilmington, N. C, not allowed 

TO BRING us food. SoUND OF CANNON- 
ADING. Escape. Return 
home. 



In December and January the nights were cold and many 
men were frozen to death. I saw two men who did not have any 
shelter dig a hole in the ground and crawl in and try to keep warm 
but in the morning they where both frozen to death. I saw one 
man who had so many lice on him that he died ; he was so weak 
that they killed him; there was no one to help him, for each one 
had all he could do to save his own life. All was famine, dan- 
ger and death. 

The Rebs said they did not know what to do ; they thought 
that we would soon all die. They had their brass band to come 
near the prison on the outside of the Stockade and play a few 
tunes; they said they thought that it would cheer the men up, but 
it did not seem to do any good, so they soon stopped it from 
playing. 

We counted four thousand dead carried out of this prison and 
there were many more we did not count. We can not tell how 
many died for we do not know the exact number. It was now 
the first of February and in my mess of twenty five men there was 
only three that was called well, the rest were all sick and they did 



iflNE MONTllS IN REBEL PRISONS. 47 

not have the strengtli to look after their rations or food, so the 
three well ones had to do all the work, we had to draw the ration;, 
divide them and carry them to the others and by the time we had 
the food divided and each man's wood split up so that he could 
use it we were very near tired out. When men would die out of 
the mess, it would be filled up the next morning by o'uher men^ 
some times by new, some times by old prisoners. The first week 
in February we received orders to be ready to move and the Rebs 
commenced to take the men out. Frank and I had saved up 
enough corn meal to last three or four days so we baked some good 
hard corn meal cakes and got ready to travel. 

The order came to go out at sunset. Frank and I thought, 
perhai)s, that the Union Army was about to capture the prison so 
we stayed back and would not go, so when the thousand went out 
we were reported missing and it was not long before we were sur- 
prised by two of the Rebs guards with fixed bayonet. They tore 
down our tent and took us out at the point of the bayonet. About 
nine o'clock in the evening we were put in box-cars and started 
for North Carolina. We were on these cars for two or three days 
and they did not seem to know what to do with us. One night 
they run the cars on a siding and as the guards were tired out they 
all fell asleep. The car door was shut and the guards were on top 
of the cars and we thought that we would all smother, as there 
were sixty-five men in our car. Two of them were dead and sev- 
eral more, we did not think, could live until morning. Some 
men began to cut a hole through the end of the car. At last we 
got a hole large enough for a man to crawl out. 

I was to be the fifth man out; two men had got out; the third 
was Joe Burcaugh, the fourth was Sergeant Blasdell. These two 
men wliere from Wisconsin. About the time the fourth man got 



40 KINK MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS, 

hair way out the guard fired and shot Joe through the arm. The 
two first men out made their escape, but Joe had to crawl back in- 
to the car. The next morning the Rebs took him and the three 
dead men out. I do not know how he made out for that was the 

last time I ever saw him. 

After this we were put on and off the cars for several days, 
and one night about nine o'clock we stopped at a small town in 
North Carolina, here they told us we where all to be exchanged. 
The next day they took us off the cars, fed us and told us to go 
where we pleased. We thought sure we was to be exchanged so we 
did not try to run away. We got some fence rails, made a large 

fire and took things easy. 

A few days after this we stopped at Wilmington, N. C. As 

soon as we stopped there we were taken from the cars and put into 
a field a short distance from the town; here we were kept all day 
without food. Many of the people came out to see us and when 
they saw that we were in a starving condition some of them of- 
fered to bring us food, so the Reb officers that had charge of us 
told them to bring us what they wanted too on the next day. So 
the next day about nine o'clock, in the morning about four or 
five hundred men, women and children, both white and black 
came out with tubs, baskets and buckets, filled with good things to 
eat, but when they got within two or three hundred yards of us they 
were stopped by the Reb officers and ordered or drove back- 
They were not allowed to bring us a mouthfull. About this time 
the Rebs received some corn meal and beef, and we received our 
rations or food which was one pint of corn meal and four ounces 
of corned or salt beef. This was the last food that I ever received 
Vom them About this time there seemed to be great excitement 
among the Rebs. 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS, 49 

We had heard cannon firing all day and it seemed to be 
getting nearer and nearer. Some of the Reb guards said it was 
time now to stop the war and the men ought to all throw down 
their guns and go home. They too seemed to fare about the same 
as the prisoners, for they had only received salt beef and corn 
meal for their food on this day, and they all seemed to be dissat 
isfied. Some of the boys that had come out to see us, said the 
Yankees will take the town to-night or to morrow and you prison- 
ers will all be free again. Sergeant Blasdell and I thought the 
time had come to make our escape, so we went out over the line 
without being noticed by the guard and the first house we come 
to was that of an old colored lady. We wanted the good old 
black women to show us a place to hide for the fields, woods, roads 
and lanes seemed to be full of Rebs, and we did not know what 
minute we would be arrested and taken back. 

The old colored lady said that she had three of our men hid 
away and that she was afraid to hide any more but she said to an 
old colored man **here Wash, you take the two men and show 
them where to hide." Old * 'Uncle Wash" as we called him took 
us down into the swamp where we found three young colored men 
with their master's horses, trying to keep them from falling into 
the hands of the Rebs. Uncle Wash told us that he knew all 
the Rebels and all the Union men in the city of Wilmington, and 
he said, **take them all, black and white, and the most is for the 
Union." 

The young colored fellows now told Uncle Wash to go back 
home and that they would take care of us, so these young men 
took us into the swamp, dug a hole, put us in it and coverd us up 
with leaves. **Now," they said, "do as we tell you and we will 
get you free." by this time another prisoner had come to us and 



50 NINE MONTHS IN RkEEL PRISONS. 

he too was put in tlie hole. About sunset two Rebel soldiers 
came along with their guns and discovered us. We thought no\V 
our time had come. They wanted to know what we were doing 
there and we told them that we were three Andersonville prisoners 
and that we were trying to make our escape. They said that they 
lived at Wilmington and was trying to get home, and they went 
on toward the city. 

The young colored men now came to us and said, "we will 
have to get away from here for the woods are full of Rcbs," so they 
took us about half a mile to anoiher woods and then went back 
and got their horses. It was now ab.^ut nine o, clock in tlie eve- 
ning and one of them said that h.e would take his horse and go in- 
to the city and see wliat was going on and get something to eat! 
About eleven o'clock he came back and said the Rebs are leaving 
and people thought the Yankees would take the town to-morrow. 
He brought a basket, in which he had half a ham nicely cooked, 
some corn bread and a pint of brandy. The colored men made 
a fire and told us to help ourselves. This food was a great sur- 
prise to us as we did not tliink of getting any tiling to eat that 
night, in fact, I was so anxious to get away from the Rebs that I 
had almost forgotten about being hungry, but we commenced to 
eat and had the basket empty before daylight next morning, the 
black men eating but very little. They said it would take more 
than one basket full of food to fill us up. 

We could hear tae Rebs foiling back and leaving the town all 
that night. Some times we would put out our fire until they 
passed by. The next morning was the twenty-second of February. 
We set around our fire and talked until nine o'clock, when one of 
the colored men said that he would ride into town and see what 
he could find out. About ten o'clock he came back and told us^ 



NINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 51 

to come out and go to the city for the Rebel soldiers had gone 
away and the Lincoln soldiers were marching into the town, and 
the Stars and Stripes were waving over the city. 

We had about one mile to go and by the time we got there 
our number had incresed to five or six hundred men who had made 
their escape the day before. This surely was a day to be remember- 
ed. The pcv-^ple of the city were much excited, particularly the 
Slaves. They seemed to be almost crazed with joy. The colored 
women run up and down the streets singing and praying. They 
said that they had been praying for many years for the Lord to 
set them free, and now they could praise his name, for "Massa" 
Lincoln's Soldiers had come and set them free. 

The white people of the town were very friendly to the escap- 
ed prisoners and took us to their homes, and fed us and used us 
well. Blasdell, myself and the other prisoner that was with us were 
all taken to one house, where we received the very best of treat- 
ment. The first they gave us was a pound of soap and ten plugs 
of tobacco each. It was the first soap I had had for nine months. 
They said ^'you men go down to the river and wash, and then 
come back here to this house and stay until you get some strength." 
I did not use tobacco, so on my way down to the river I sold my 
ten plugs to the colored Union soldiers for one dollar a plug and 
got from a white regiment a full suit of clothes, so now I had ten 
dollars in money, a good suit of clothes and a home to go to. 
The other two men had fared about the same as I and arriving 
at the river we threw off our old rags and went into swim. We 
took a good wash, dressed in our new clothes and went back to 
the house. Here we were used the very best ; plenty to eat and 
a good bed to sleep on. We had no guide to our appetite, so 
eat of everything that was put on the table. 



62 FINE MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS. 

The men eat so much that some got sick and many died. 
In three days Blasdell and I had to take our man to the 
hospital ; in one week I was taken to the hospital where 
I was sick for two weeks. I do not know how my friend Blasdell 
made out for I never saw him after I went to the hospital. As 
soon as I got well I wrote home telling them that I had made my 
escape and that I would soon be home. It was now the third 
week in March the doctor told me that I could go home in the next 
boat, so in a day or two I started with many others in a steamboat 
for home. We arrived at Annapolis, Md.^ where we were met by 
many friends and a brass band; we stayed at Annapolis for two or 
three weeks where many of the men were sick and died. 

1 now went to Trenton N. J. where on the twenty-fourth of 
April, 1S65, I was discharged and mustered out of the United 
States service, where I had been for three years, seven months 
and fourteen days. I now returned home which was at Port 
Elizabeth, Cumberland County, New Jersey. 



■f FINIS. |- 



NINE MONTUf? IN REBEL PRISONS. 63 



rnt mmrow yiBwrv. 



BRET HARTE. 



And I saw a pluuUom army come, 
"With never a f-ound oi" fife or drum, 
But keeping ste|i to a muffled huiii 

Of wailing lamentations; 
The martyred heroes of Malvern Hill, 
Of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville- 
The men whose wasted bodies fill 

The patriot graves of the nation. 



And there came the unknown dead, the men 
"Who died in fever-swamp and fen, 
The slowly starved of prison pen; 

And marching beside the others, 
Came the duskv martyrs of Pillow's fight. 
With limbs enfranchised and bearing bright, 
1 thought — 'twas the pale moonlight — 

They looked as white as their brothers. 

And so all night marched the nation's dead, 
With never a banner above them spread. 
No sign save the bare, uncovered head 

Of their s-ilent, grim Kcviewfr; 
With never an arch but the vaulted sky, 
With not a flower save those which lie 
On distant LTaves, for love could buy 

Ko gilt that was purer or truer. 

So all night long movtJ the strange array; 
So all night long till the break of day 
I watched for «'ne who had passed away 

With a reverent awe and wonder. 
Till a bUi:^ cap waved in the lengthening line, 
And 1 knew that one who was kin of mine 
Had come, and I spoke — and. Lo! that sign 

Wakened me from my slumbtT. 



PtL 



^ INDEX, i 



OHAPTKR. PAOK. 

I _My enlistment, capture and journey to Andersonville. 
Andersonville Stockade or Prison Pen, How it was 
made. AVhere the guards were stationed. The dead 
line '^ 

Ij Where we got our water. How we dug wells. The 

price of water. Overrun with vermin. How we fared 
for shelter. Fighting lice. Makiny; a mud shanty. 

Who was responsible for the way we were treated 13 

III. —What we had to eat. The Ptcgnlators or police. Cook- 
ing our own food. Food cut di>\vn one-half. Mosby's 
Kaiders. Dog soup. Arret of the raiders. Six 
hung ^8 

1Y Drawino- rations. Amount of rations in bulk and what 

each received. Making coHee. The j.en enlarged. 
Men getting wild. Placing c mnon on the stockade. 

Clothing giving out 24 

Y^ Dying by hundreds. The sick call. Tra-le and traffic, 

U."s. Money in circulation. Buying otF of the far- 
mers Plenty of Confederate m >uey and what it was 
worth. Our stores and their prices 29 

YI._Wounding negro prisoners aft-r they were capture<l. 
My dream of houK!. Pris )nfrs trying to escape by 
tunnels. Shelter for the siuk. liurnor of exchange. 

Kenioved to Florence, S. C. Starling a store 34 

YIl._The =ick exchanged. The Regulators fix the price of 
selling and lua'ke things w M>e iliaii they were before. 
The condition of my clo.huiLC, Voting for President, ...41 

YIII. Many dying and the Pveb«i furni>hing music to cheer (he 

men. *^ iiemoval. Trying to escape from the cars. 
The people oi Wilmington, N. C, not allowed to 
bring us food. Sound of cannonading. Escape. 
Keturn Home 46 




ILLUSTRATIONS 




Portrait of Author Frontispiece. 

The author, from a daguerreotvpe taken three months before 

his capture Oppo>ite p. 20 

The authorjust before he maJe his escape Oppo.rite p. 42 



F 




i-UNGRESS 



013 786 700 A 



